Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Mattress Madness

In 2014, Sulkowicz carried her dormitory mattress around campus in protest after she claimed that a fellow student raped her at the college in 2012. The mattress was carried everywhere, including to Sulkowicz’s graduation, prompting a huge media storm surrounding the student who media dubbed “Mattress Girl.”

However, in early 2015 it was reported that Sulkowicz had repeatedly told her “rapist” she loved him through leaked text messages after the “attack”, with the alleged rapist Paul Nungesser eventually being pardoned by the campus due to lack of evidence. Nungesser was repeatedly threatened, harassed, and assaulted during the lengthy campus trial, and Nungesser reported multiple rescinded job offers and missed opportunities due to the accusations.

Sulkowicz claimed that Nungesser had beaten her in bed after agreeing to mutually consensual sex, before he allegedly forced anal upon her. Nungesser, however, denied this story and claimed that their sexual encounters were entirely consensual. Nungesser theorized that Sulkowicz’s claims against him were due to the fact that he had decided to split up with her shortly after the encounter.